The Importance of Voice

 

PODCASTING IS VIRAL 

After your nonprofit organisation has embraced Social Media tools for Web 2.0 you will discover, as many now do, that keeping fresh your website’s content mix can be real fun rather than a chore. 

Let’s say you’ve updated all your website’s recent news sections, added new images on its photo albums, a new clip on its videos section, published stories of special interest, updated the events calendar, or commented on someone else’s comment. You’ve planned and launched email campaigns, sent the regular monthly e-newsletters, promote a current project or broadcasted an event. What’s left? What else can you do more to engage excite and interact with your community members and other site visitors and encourage more traffic to your site? One answer is Audio. 

Podcasts are now fast becoming important features in nonprofit organisation websites. Now, you can easily reach your audience anytime using voice. It’s viral. Podcasts can be shared and recommended by supporters. What’s more, they are easy to use, interactive and empowers you to communicate directly on a more personal level. 

Promoting your website with audio enables your organisation to personally connect to your audience using a different dimension. There are many tools on the Web that make creating audio files easy and these can be embedded on a YouTube account linked to your website virtually cost free. 

MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU! 

It is a fantastic medium that widens your organisation’s options to offer free stuff on the Web. A free MP3 or sound file (which can contain music too) is an excellent trade for an email address or as a ‘thank you’ gift to someone who’s just donated funds to your cause. There are now many information-based websites that offer tons of written content and audio files you can use too for free. Visitors can click on your links to both view and listen to material and learn. You can also use files like these for people to download into their computers and playback to later and even transfer to their MP3 players. Best of all, they can share it with friends who’ll share it with other friends. This increases exposure of your own organisation. Make it work for you! 

Another benefit of the medium is it’s easy to convert print into audio. Let’s say you have a report that has done well as a content piece. Transforming it into an audio file is easy as speaking into a microphone. Make sure, however, that when recording your print copy you sound natural. Read it like you’re conversing with a friend, even insert a short anecdote or a joke or two where appropriate. And if you’re not happy using your own voice because it isn’t turning out the way you want it, consider using someone with a better-sounding voice or hire a voice talent to record the copy for you. 

TAKING AUDIO FURTHER 

You can also take your audio file further. It is also easy to do the reverse, that is, take an audio file and embed it into a print product using PowerPoint presentation. For example, you can do interviews with interesting people, have it transcribed, add interesting images and give it away as a separate promotion. 

Consider make listening to podcasts or on your website optional too. There are people who surf online when they’re not really supposed to. Maybe they are at work, at the library or at home while other family members are watching television. The last thing they want is to click on your site and have your voice pop up automatically, loudly and break the silence. 

When you provide an audio on your website, you not only are able to inform or entertain site visitors but also give them an opportunity to hear your voice and connect with you even if it’s just for seconds or a few minutes. You can use your audio file to say hello, tell them a little bit about your organisation and why it was created and jump right into what your nonprofit does and why. Tell them stories too, they’ll love that! When they hear it from you, they may be more likely to believe it and start trusting you. 

One thing to consider when creating an audio file for your website is that it needs to be interesting, entertaining and of good quality. Put yourself in their shoes. If people cannot hear or understand you; hear others talking loudly in the background; or worse, lose interest because the audio lacks inflection and is delivered monotone, then you’re going to lose credibility and the effect you’re going for. 

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN 

Now here’s the best part. The cost to produce one audio file happens but just once. Yet, you’ll be using it hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of times. Also, when you create a collection of audio-visual files in the form of a CD giveaway the production and replication costs are extremely minimal. A majority of people these days prefer digital files which is more cost-effective for you and easy for them to keep and distributed. That’s promotion and marketing for your organisation that come to you like pennies from heaven. 

What are you waiting for? 

Learn more about what the author of this blog and Convergent Digital Solutions Ltd. do for nonprofits.

The list of NGOs that Karl Quirino & Associates and his company in New Zealand provide service to include: Animal rescue and welfare organisations, Blood Banks, Children’s Clubs, Clothing Distribution Centres, Community Learning Centres, Community Volunteer Fire Departments, Community Volunteer Search/Rescue Groups, Community Volunteer EMS Departments, Community Counseling Centres, Community Support Groups, Cultural Organisations, Crisis Support Organisations, Disaster Relief Organisations, Educational and Literacy Organisations, Food Banks, Food Distribution Organisations, Legal Services for Charities, Health and Medical Support Groups, Homeowners’ Associations and Groups, Humane/Animal Groups, Maori Organisations, Non-Profit Schools, Organ Donation Organisations, Pacific Islands and Other Ethnic Organisations, Parent/Teacher Associations or Organisations, School Extracurricular Groups and Fundraisers, Scouting Organisations and Groups, Shelters For Homeless and the Disadvantaged, Social Service Charity Organisations, Teachers’ Organisations, Treatment Centres or Support, Victims’ Support Groups, Volunteer Fire and EMS Services and Youth Sports Organisations.